I went back and rewatched the last few episodes of Andor.  I'm so jacked for tonight's Season 2 premier.  I'm worried that my hopes might be too high after the first season - usually I go in to new streaming Star Wars series with a fairly moderate to low expectation, but not this time.

Ultimately it doesn't matter who is the importer of record and who pays the tariff.  If Hasbro is the importer of record and paying the tariff, Hasbro could very easily just pass that on to BBTS and EE because they don't have enough a contract that protects them against price changes.  If EE and BBTS are the importer of record then they're paying the tariffs directly.  Either way they're paying the higher costs and passing them along to their customers (us).

Amazon may have specific language in their contract with Hasbro that doesn't allow for this, or they've chosen to eat the tariffs for now and not pass it on to customers because they value their "price guarantee" long term more than short term profitability.  I would assume Target and Wal-Mart probably also have strong buying power with Hasbro that might protect them more than a small company like EE and BBTS.

Either way, somebody has to pay the tariff and decide if they want to pass it on down the line to the customer.  It can even become more exacerbated if everyone is trying to maintain a margin %.  If people are trying to achieve 30% margins along the way (factory to Hasbro, Hasbro to retailer, retailer to customer) and there is a 10% tariff paid at the beginning, that will result in a larger than 10% price increase as retailers seek to maintain their 30% margins.  In my business we call this margin stacking, and it usually results in substantial lost business.

EE and BBTS are probably also working with other distributors for some of their lines (although maybe not Hasbro).  Think Japanese anime or some other types of lines where the manufacturer may not sell direct to US companies and work with another layer of distributors.  That could add another layer of margin stacking.

Tariffs are generally a terrible idea unless they're protecting a strategic capability - e.g. microchips, steel/aluminum, etc.  The US and Europe haven't made plastic toys in our lifetime and never will. 

Ever since that final twist in Solo came out, I thought this would be a great side series that they could pull the string on.    Glad they're finally getting to it.

I think that old Bantha is still phenomenal.  I don't need another one, but I'm good with them releasing a refresh for those that still need it or want more to add to their Tusken army.

I really wish they had done this line in 3.75" 5POA.  I would buy every one of these, but the 4" scale looks off in a lot of cases.

Just opened a bunch of 5POA figures from The Last Jedi and they're pretty sweet.  I love TVC, but a well done 5POA figure is just fine too if its in scale with everything else.

Amazon sent me emails to expect this wave on April 16.

I did a quick check of a couple dozen TVC and Disney Droid Factory figures I had laying around from the past couple of years and I couldn't find anything that wasn't "made in China".

Everybody get the email from BBTS about tariffs driving price increases for your favorite toys?  They're going to add a specific line item for tariff fees that they say will add 15-40% in the price of toys.

Jeff and I were ranting a bit about it in the Sarlacc pit as it involves the whims of our dear leader Trump.

Sarlacc Pit

We can discuss in either or both places, but looks like this is going to be a real thing for the collecting community going forward.